Constable kills two women, self

Illegal affairs suspected to be the reason for the crime

A police constable attached to Manimuthar 9th Battalion murdered a woman head constable and shot down another woman, who was the mother of three children, on Monday.

The police said V. Esakkimuthu (31), custodian of Manimuthar 9th Battalion's arms room, had developed an illegal affair with head-constable E. Uma Maheshwari (36), a mother of two children, who was also working there. Esakkimuthu, who allegedly took Uma Maheshwari to an abandoned building on the battalion premises on Sunday night, murdered her with a sickle and left the area on a bike with a 9 mm pistol.

Esakkimuthu, who was also having an extra-marital affair with P. Geetha (36) of Bhoothapandi in Kanyakumari district, went to her house on Monday morning and shot her before ending his life with the pistol.

The police found that Esakkimuthu's wife had left him within six months after marriage and he developed illegal affairs with Uma Maheshwari, wife of a Central Industrial Security Force constable now working in Tuticorin, and also with his relative's wife Geetha.

Though Geetha moved to Boothapandi from Koththankulam after her husband Patchaimuthu got a job in Dubai, Esakkimuthu continued the affair. When Geetha wanted to end this, Esakkimuthu got agitated and this reportedly led to the murders.

The police recovered some bullets and the firearm from the scene of crime.